'C'est l'élite finale'

Nicolas Sarkozy has thrown himself into the campaign fray this weekend with his first big rally - an unashamedly populist and nationalistic appeal to France's working classes.

Le Figaro say Sarkozy was evoking the spirit of de Gaulle - showing that only he can fill the president's shoes - while for Le Parisien the speech was a populist and nationalistic appeal to ordinary people.

Liberation says it's beyond satire that a man so associated with tax breaks for the rich should now be trying to paint himslf as the people's president - and L'Humanité says it's a swing to the extreme right.

La Croix points out that if it's Marine Le Pen he's targeting, then he seems to be winning - she's going down in the polls as he goes up.